Dark Times
by eaglefan101
Summary: After a letter to Princess Celestia goes unanswered, Twilight begins to worry about her whereabouts. If only she knew what Ponyville was in for...
1. Chapter 1

_Hello! I only just recently got into the Friendship is Magic show, and I've had this idea floating around in my head for a little while. I've posted it on /b/ and Equestria Daily, so I figured I'd might as well post it here. Enjoy it for what it is!_

**CHAPTER 1: A Letter Unanswered**

The sound of hooves echoed throughout the house. Spike could feel the tension in the air. Twilight had been pacing back and forth for hours now. It wasn't as if it was unusual to see her stressed, but this time was different. Of course, this was the reaction Spike would expect from Twilight in a situation like this. Still, he thought that she was overreacting. She looked over to Spike and their eyes met.

"Anything yet?" Twilight asked. Spike shook his head.

"Not yet," he replied. Twilight hung her head and sighed. She continued her pacing. At this point, Spike started to worry. "Don't you think you're over reacting a little bit? I'm sure there's a good reason for this."

"Spike, Princess Celestia has never taken more than a half hour to respond to one of my letters." She sighed again. "I sent that letter this morning. It's the afternoon and she still hasn't written me back."

"That doesn't mean anything," Spike shot back. "She could just be busier than usual today." Twilight didn't seem too reassured. She went back to her pacing. Whatever was happening with the Princess, it was deeply affecting Twilight and Spike knew it. He knew how close the two were, and that it wasn't healthy for Twilight to keep worrying about it. Besides, he was convinced that it was nothing. There had to be a real reason why she hadn't responded to Twilight's letter. As Spike was lost in his thoughts, Twilight spoke up again.

"What if you sent the letter to the wrong person?" Spike frowned at her. He knew that wasn't the reason, as did she. She gave a nervous smile. "Well, I mean, don't you think it would be possible... just this once?" Spike's frown grew. Twilight's smile disappeared. "Sorry."

"Look, you need to calm down Twilight. It isn't good for you to dwell on this." Twilight nodded in agreement. She knew Spike was right. "Why don't you go out? Y'know, go see what Applejack or somepony is up to? Anything to get your mind off this. You haven't been out all day." An unsure expression grew on Twilight's face. It was true that she hadn't gone outside since yesterday, but she didn't want to miss the Princess's letter. "If she writes back," Spike continued, "I'll let you know as soon as I can." That seemed to reassure her a little bit. She figured it couldn't hurt to distract herself for a while. She shrugged and started heading for the door.

"I guess I'll be back later then," Twilight said.

"Okay, bye Twilight!" Spike waved as Twilight stepped outside the house. She looked around outside, wondering what she could do. Anything that would kill time would be fine. To be honest, she didn't think anything would take her mind off the Princess. It just wasn't right that she didn't respond yet. Though, perhaps Spike was right. Maybe she was worrying about nothing. At least, she hoped she was. She began heading towards the town square. Browsing the shops would be a great way to clear her mind. As she approached the bakery shop, she noticed that Ponyville seemed relatively empty. Many of the shops were closed, and there were barely any ponies around.

"Where is everyone?" she thought to herself. At that point, she heard a gust of wind behind her gradually getting louder. She turned her head to find out what the noise was, only to find that whatever it was had already passed by her.

"Hi Twilight!" It was Rainbowdash, and she was already far ahead of Twilight.

"Dash... hey, wait!" Twilight began running towards Dash in a feeble attempt to catch up. Luckily, Dash heard her and quickly stopped in her flight. She looked slightly annoyed by this. As Twilight got closer, she said, "Wow, you're in a hurry. Where are you going?" Dash's annoyed look grew.

"The same place I hope you're going," she replied. Twilight raised an eyebrow. What was she talking about? Dash sighed. "You don't remember? The annual Cloud Shaping Competition!" Twilight gasped. That's right, it was today. Dash had told her about it yesterday. How could she have forgotten about it?

"Sorry Dash," Twilight said sheepishly. "I guess I forgot about it. I've had other things on my mind today." Dash merely rolled her eyes.

"Well you're still going right?" Twilight nodded. "Then hurry up, it's gonna start soon! I'll meet you there, I'm already running a little late." With that said, she dashed off. Twilight headed towards where Dash was headed and eventually came across a large group of ponies, eagerly awaiting the competition. The pegasus ponies in the air were warming up by stretching and practicing their flight techniques. Twilight admired their intricate flight patterns before returning her attention to the crowd. After a bit of searching she found who she was looking for.

"Well look who's finally here!" Applejack smirked at Twilight and motioned over to her. She was standing with Fluttershy and Rarity. "'Bout time you finally came. I was worried you forgot!"

"Well, I kinda did," Twilight admitted. "So where's Pinkie Pie?"

"She's a bit preoccupied at her bake stand right now," Rarity said, casting her gaze at a second group of ponies standing in front of a large wooden stand filled with cupcakes, pastries, muffins, and many other kinds of baked goods. If she squinted, Twilight could almost see Pinkie frantically running back and forth, providing the treats to the ponies. The competition seemed to be perfect for her business.

"And what about you Applejack?" Twilight asked. "Why aren't you selling your apples?"

"Well we don't really got too many to sell. The others aint quite ready to be harvested yet." Suddenly, the crowd of ponies broke out in cheers. Twilight looked towards the front and saw the Mayor of Ponyville on stage. The show was just about to start.

"Welcome everypony," the Mayor began, "to the annual Cloud-Shaping Competition! We have a lot of competitors this year so let's not waste too much time with introductions. All pegasus ponies will be judged not only by the shape of their cloud, but also by the time it takes to shape. Each pony will have a maximum time limit of ten minutes! All ponies will have their own separate round, and no two ponies will go at once. With that said, let us begin!" The judges took their place by the stage and stared at the sky where the contestants would shape their clouds. The first contestant wasted no time after she was given her cloud. She quickly flew around the cloud, crafting it as carefully, and as quickly, as she could. It wasn't too long before it began to take shape and Twilight realized it was in the shape of a bunny. She heard Fluttershy giggle quietly.

"Ohh I love this competition," she said. "I love seeing the shapes that everypony comes up with." Twilight had to agree with that. As the competition went on, she witnessed clouds of all kinds of shapes. There were birds, flowers, cupcakes, and many others. It wasn't until now that Twilight realized the true skill of the pegasus ponies. Not only were they fast, but they were detailed in their creations. Some even used their wings to move the clouds to give the illusion of moving art. It was quite a sight to see.

"Hey look!" Applejack exclaimed. "Rainbowdash is next!" Dash slowly floated out towards the cloud that had been provided for her. Twilight noticed that, unlike her last competition, Dash seemed completely confident. After all, it's not like she had to do a Sonic Rainboom. Besides, she had nothing to prove this time around. The competition was nothing more than good fun.

"Ready?" one of the judges asked Dash, to which she nodded. She tensed up and locked her joints in place. She twitched slightly as she waited for the signal. The whistle blew, and she was off. She began rapidly circling the cloud, which began to stretch out vertically. Once it was the right height, she zipped down to the bottom and began her circling once more. The clouds at the bottom began to shape legs. She then began working on everything above. Twilight watched nervously as Dash finished up her cloud. She was probably getting close to the time limit by now. Just as Twilight thought that time would run out, Rainbowdash flew directly in front of her art with a grin. She had shaped the cloud into a large dragon, much to the dismay of Fluttershy who slowly lowered her head.

"Oh for the love of... You do realize it's just a cloud right?" Rarity stared down at Fluttershy, flashing her a questioning look. Fluttershy merely kicked away at the dirt in silence as Applejack and Twilight giggled to themselves.

-

After the festivities, Twilight bid her friends farewell and headed back to her house. It was a good thing that she had run into Dash earlier, otherwise she would have missed out. She felt sorry that the dragon cloud was only enough to snag second place, but Dash didn't seem too upset by it. "After all," she had said earlier, "it's all just fun and games right?" That comment came as a slight surprise. After all, Dash was never much of a modest pony, and she definitely wasn't a fan of being anywhere below first place. Twilight was quite impressed with that. Maybe Dash was finally growing up.

As she opened the door, Twilight's mind immediately went back to Princess Celestia. She sighed in anger for letting her mind worry. The whole point of her day out was to keep her thoughts away from the unanswered letter. However, maybe Spike had received the letter while she was out. She sure hoped so.

"Spike," she called out, "are you here?" Spike walked into view with an uneasy look on his face. Twilight frowned at the sight. "I guess I don't even need to ask if you got a letter back?" Spike shook his head. Twilight's face fell and all the worry she felt that afternoon had emerged once more. "Well, what do you think now? Still think this is nothing?"

"Well..." Spike began, uneasily. There was a long pause before he was able to find the right words. "Look, I know this is odd, but I still don't think you should be worrying about it." Twilight scoffed. "Hey, I'm just trying to make you feel better!"

"I know, I'm sorry." She walked into her room and looked out the window next to her bed. The night sky was a beautiful sight. Twilight always used it to cheer her up. There was something truly mystical about the night. The stars and moon gave off a surprisingly intense light, and the light covering of clouds gave it a chilling atmosphere. If she ever needed to think about anything, she always turned to the night sky. Suddenly, Spike broke her concentration.

"We'll send another letter tomorrow. If she doesn't respond, we'll go visit her in person. Does that sound good?" Twilight nodded and gave Spike a forced smile. "Try not to stay up too late thinking about this. It'll work out! I promise!" He started heading towards his own bed.

"Thanks Spike. Good-night." The night sky caught her eyes once more. What would happen if Spike was wrong? What if the Princess really was in trouble? How would she know? What would the other ponies do? What COULD they do? These were all questions that Twilight really hoped went unanswered. Though she was going to take up Spike's offer on sending another letter, somehow she felt that it wouldn't matter. In her mind, the best thing to do would be to visit the Princess in person. She planned on telling Spike this tomorrow before sending the letter.

So many thoughts and what-if's were floating around in Twilight's mind. She tried blocking them out, but she couldn't get them out of her head. One thing was for sure, she wasn't going to get a good night's sleep.

-

Somewhere in the forests of Equestria...

It was nearly pitch black, mostly thanks to the trees blocking out the light from the stars and the moon. A dark figure walked through forest, trying to get as far away from any witnesses. The figure eventually reached a large rock formation lacking trees that were too close for it to work. This would have to do. By now Ponyville was probably far enough away. It couldn't be instantaneous, it had to be gradual. He didn't want anyone to know what was happening until they were already affected. He braced himself on the rock and closed his eyes in concentration.

Soon, a bright light emerged from his horn. Come on... concentrate. Even the slightest mistake would ruin the spell. He kept up his concentration and the light grew bigger and brighter. Soon, a relatively small shockwave exploded around the figure. He completed the spell. Breathing heavily, he looked around to see if the effects were taking place. At first, he didn't think it had worked. That was, until the flowers around him began to wilt. The grass gradually became dried and brown. The leaves on the trees quickly disintegrated as the bark started cracking and peeling off. Finally, while it may be hard to see with the untrained eye, the once nearly clear night sky started to become covered in pitch black clouds. The figure smiled and flew up into the air to view his handiwork.

The clouds were slowly spreading all around where he cast the spell. The plants had a similar effect. A circle of dead plants grew larger by the second. The figured looked out in the distance and saw Ponyville. It wouldn't spread there until morning at the very least. However, it didn't matter. The deed was done. He took off into the night sky, viciously laughing at the impending chaos he had caused.

_Bam! Chapter 1 done! Hopefully this won't meet the same fate as my other fics. We'll see what happens. I'll try to get this updated regularly._

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	2. Chapter 2

Twilight yawned as she slowly opened her eyes. She sat up on her bed and tried to shake herself awake. Suddenly, she noticed something was wrong. It was... dark? She looked around the house, or at least tried to. She could barely make out where the switch to her lamp was. The blinding light made her squint. She looked at the clock, which read a little past eleven. She looked quizzically at the clock. She couldn't have only slept for two hours. She looked over at Spike, who was still asleep, before directing her attention to the window. From where she was standing, it was still dark. Her heart fell.

She quickly ran over to the window and opened it. She didn't know what to expect, but even if she did she wouldn't have been prepared for what she saw. The sky was covered in black clouds, blocking the sunlight from hitting Ponyville. That wasn't all though. All of the plant life had withered and died. The leafless trees sat in the ground, which now consisted of dead grass and dirt. Amidst the town were the ponies, frantically running back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. The pegasus ponies were using all their skill to remove the clouds, without any success.

"Spike! Get up!" Twilight's shout had shaked Spike out of his deep sleep. He groaned.

"It's still dark, why are you waking me up?" he asked unknowingly. Twilight sighed angrily.

"We don't have time for this Spike, something's wrong! It's not night time right now. In fact it's almost noon!" That comment was enough to fully wake Spike. He jumped out of his bed and headed towards the front door with Twilight. As they stepped outside, Spike gasped. He stared at the dead plants, the black clouds, and the chaos among the ponies.

"What happened?" he asked. Before Twilight could even think of an answer, she heard a familiar voice shout to her.

"Twilight! About time you woke up!" It was Dash. She was with the other pegasus ponies trying to clear up the clouds. She flew down to where Twilight and Spike were standing. "The one time you decide to sleep in and it's during a crisis!" Twilight knew Dash was only kidding, but the way she said it made her sound serious.

"Sorry," she said. "I couldn't sleep last night. What's going on?"

"We have no idea," Dash replied. "The only thing we really know is... well everything you see here." She motioned to the dead grass and trees. "We dunno what caused it, but we're trying everything we can to reverse it."

"Where are the others?" Twilight asked. Suddenly, she felt worried for Fluttershy. Not that this wasn't horrible for everypony, but she had a feeling Fluttershy would take this the worst.

"They're heading for the town square. The Mayor's called a meeting." A bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from the black clouds. "WHOA!" The sight and sound of the destructive force caused her to nearly lose her balance and fall. She looked back to the other pegasus ponies, who were all shaken from what happened. "I'll meet you there, I gotta round these guys up and get 'em out of here!" She flew back towards where the others were. Twilight looked at Spike.

"I know now is probably not the time to bring this up, but NOW do you think that it was nothing to worry about?" Spike shook his head sadly.

"Okay, I'm sorry. You're right, this can't be a coincidence." They headed towards the town square, where many of the ponies had already gathered. A familiar voice called out from behind them.

"Twilight!" Twilight and Spike turned to see Rarity and Pinkie Pie headed towards them. They both wore morbid expressions on their faces, a rare sight coming from Pinkie Pie. "It's awful isn't it?" Twilight nodded in agreement. Actually, in her opinion, awful was quite the understatement.

"Do you think anyone knows where this all came from?" she asked. Rarity shook her head.

"I highly doubt it."

"Don't worry," Pinkie Pie said, in a forcefully cheerful tone. "I'm sure Princess Celestia will know what to do." Twilight's eyes fell to the ground.

"Actually Pinkie Pie, about that..." She trailed off. Maybe she should wait until the meeting before she brought up the letter. There was still a small part inside her that hoped that the Princess would be there at the meeting, ready to explain what was going on. She doubted it, but maybe. If anything, it would give her a chance to explain it to everypony in town. "Actually, I'll tell you later when everyone's here."

"Is there something wrong?" Rarity asked. Twilight thought for a moment. Of course something was wrong, that was evident. But maybe it wasn't as bad as it could be.

"I sure hope not Rarity," she responded.

As they reached the town square, they met up with the others. Rainbowdash was in the air, making sure everpony had showed up. Applejack was standing with Fluttershy, both of them completely silent. Well, maybe not completely.

"Fluttershy..." Though she barely made any noise, Twilight could tell that Fluttershy was devastated. The tears streaming down her face were enough to tell her that. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy didn't look at Twilight. Rather, she stared at the dead grass. She shook her head in answer to Twilight's question. It wasn't surprising in the least. Out of all the ponies in town, Fluttershy was the one who loved the plantlife the most. It only made sense that she would be hugely affected by what happened.

"She's been like that since I met up with her," Applejack explained. She casted a worried glance at Fluttershy. "To be honest, I feel the same way. All the apple trees are dead. Even the apples I harvested are gone." She sighed sadly. "Let's just hope somepony knows what to do." At that point, all the conversations happening within the crowd began to cease. The Mayor had stepped in front of the crowd to address them.

"Well," she began, "I don't think I need to say why we're here, but as you can see, Ponyville has been affected by... something." She sounded very unsure and nervous. Twilight didn't blame her. "Unfortunately, I can't say why. I've talked with some of the other ponies, and we haven't been able to come up with an answer to why this is happening, or even how to stop it." She sighed. "Which is a big part of why I called you all here. Information. I don't honestly think that anypony knows exactly what is going on, but I figured it was worth a shot. If anyone knows something, anything, we need to know everything we can. We can't do anything until the Princess responds to my letter..." Twilight and Spike quickly shot each other a nervous look. "...But we can at least get all the information we can." Twilight stepped forward. Now was the time to let everyone know.

"Excuse me, I think I might have something." All the ponies looked over to her. She teleported up to where the Mayor was standing, which caused her to flinch violently. "Sorry," Twilight said. She turned to face the crowd. "Well, I guess I didn't think too much about it yesterday," Spike rolled his eyes. "But I sent a letter to the Princess yesterday morning, and she still hasn't responded." The sounds of whispers came from the ponies. "It might not sound like much, but she never takes longer than a half an hour to respond to one of my letters. I don't think I'm jumping to conclusions when I say that this isn't a coincidence."

"Are you saying that the Princess is gone?" one of the ponies from the crowd asked.

"Well, to be honest I'm not sure," Twilight answered, "But it seems likely." The crowd gasped simultaneously. She waited for them to calm down before she continued. "The only way we're gonna find out is to go to her castle and see if she's there."

"I guess that makes sense," the Mayor said, "but what if she really isn't there? What will happen?" The crowed looked back at Twilight, awaiting her response. She took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking gain.

"I don't know, but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Right now, the main priority is to find the Princess. I'll go to the castle. If anyone else wants to come, you're more than welcome."

"I'm definitely in!" Twilight looked at Rainbowdash and smiled as she flew towards her.

"Me too!" Rarity walked to the front of the crowd to join Twilight and Rainbowdash, with Pinkie Pie following behind. Applejack followed suit, as did Fluttershy, albeit reluctantly. Twilight nodded.

"I might as well go too," the Mayor said. "I kind of feel obliged to."

"That's fine," Twilight told her. "The more the merrier. What about you Spike?" Spike bit his lip.

"Count me out. I'll wait back at the house." She nodded and briefly looked out to the crowd to see if anyone else wanted to tag along. No one in the crowd moved, so she nodded good-bye to the ponies.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," she told them. With that, they headed out of Ponyville towards the castle.

It was a clear path to the castle, and personally Twilight was thankful for that. She didn't want to have to deal with walking through the forest while Ponyville was covered in the black clouds. She thought of herself as a coward, but she wasn't fond of dark forests. The walk had so far been silent. Tension was building up around them, and it was beginning to get to Twilight. Did she really want to see if the Princess was there? What if she wasn't? The Mayor had a good point. There wasn't much anypony could do if the Princess really was gone. Whatever happened, she just hoped that there would be a way to solve all of this.

"How're y'all holding up?" Applejack suddenly asked to break the silence. Nobody answered. She laughed nervously and returned her attention to the ground. "Yeah, I figured as much."

"Sorry," Rarity said, "I don't think any of us are exactly in the mood to talk."

"Yeah," Applejack said, "I guess I can see that." Twilight looked behind her to make sure everypony was still there. Fluttershy was following behind all the other ponies, still visibly crying. Twilight sadly frowned. She'd have to find a way to cheer Fluttershy up. How do you cheer someone up when a lot of what she loved wilted away?

"Don't worry girls, we should be there s-" A large bang cut off her words as a portal suddenly appeared in front of the group. A large dark figure walked out of the portal. He was probably about as tall as the Princess. He spread his wings as the bright light on his horn began to dim. The portal disappeared. He looked down on the group and smiled.

"Wh-who are you?" Twilight stammered. Somehow, she knew whoever this was, he was behind what was happening in Ponyville.

"Greetings Twilight." Her eyes widened. He knew her name? "And I give my greetings to your friends as well." He mocked a bow to the others, which visibly angered Rainbowdash. "My name is Zerkan. How are you?"

"Don't play that nice guy stuff on us," Pinkie Pie shouted. "You're the one behind the clouds and the plants aren't you? Aren't you?" Zerkan chuckled.

"That obvious huh? Well, what can I say other than you're welcome." Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"You're welcome?" she exclaimed. "What are you talking about? Do you have any idea what you've done to Ponyville?"

"Of course I do," Zerkan began. "Perhaps it's best if I start from the beginning." Everypony looked curiously at him. "I've been watching you from the other side."

"Other side?" Applejack said. Zerkan's smile fell ever so slightly.

"Haven't you ever learned that it's rude to interrupt?" Applejack shut her mouth and kept it that way. "Anyways, ever since I started observing, there was one thing about your lives that always bothered me. You ponies, you're all the same. You live in happiness, and nothing more. Rarely do any of you feel real anger, real sadness, real misery."

"And what's wrong with that?" Rainbowdash asked angrily.

"There is nothing wrong with happiness," Zerkan explained. "However, it becomes a problem if that's all you know. You might not realize it, but happiness makes you weak. It makes you vulnerable. What would you do if a war broke out? Sing about flowers and butterflies? You'd be decimated in mere days." He closed his eyes in thought. "Besides that, it wouldn't be long until your happiness tore your way of life apart. How long do you really think you ponies can keep up the charade? Do you really believe that everyone is truly happy?"

"No," Twilight answered, "but that doesn't mean we're on the verge of cultural destruction."

"Maybe not to you," Zerkan said, "but that's only because you haven't seen how the real world works. You and your friends have been living in an illusion for far too long. Sooner or later, somepony will snap and break the system. And when that happens, everything will fall apart. The only way to save you from destruction is to introduce misery and despair to your town. Perhaps then you will realize that there's a whole world out there that's true. Ponyville, hell, even the entire Equestria is a lie. Nobody is truly happy."

Twilight let everything he said sink in. So that was it. This was all about putting misery into everypony's lives. This was about turning the once cheerful Equestria into a dark wasteland. Well, from what she could see, he had succeeded. And now that he did, she didn't see it being fixed anytime soon without...

And then she remembered.

"What about Princess Celestia?" Twilight accused. "What did you do to her?"

"Not to worry," Zerkan said. "She is safe and sound in her castle. Although I can't say she's very happy with that." A devilish grin grew on his face. Twilight's anger began to grow. This can't be happening. What now? What should she do? What can they do?

There was only one thing she could think of doing. She braced herself in front of Zerkan.

"If you think we're going to let this happen without a fight, you've got another thing coming." Twilight's horn began to glow as she prepared to use her magic.

"A fight, you say?" Zerkan's smile grew even wider. He closed his eyes and focused all his concentration on his magic. His horn shot out a blinding light. Suddenly Twilight felt something. She looked at her body to see glowing white strands wrapping around her body. The rope like bonds tightened around her body, and she let out a small gasp of pain.

"Twilight!" the other ponies shouted out. Applejack ran forward to help, but before she could reach her friend, Zerkan sent out an invisible barrier, blocking them from Twilight.

"If I were you," Zerkan warned, "I'd stand back." Twilight thought frantically. Something was blocking her mind, making it hard to think. She tried using magic, but something wasn't letting her. She couldn't concentrate. All she could manage was a dim glow. "Nice try, but it's impossible to use magic in these bonds." The bonds became tighter, making it harder for Twilight to breathe. "I should have let you know that I'm not much for fighting fair." His smile grew. His horn grew even brighter. The bonds started to feel hotter and hotter by the second until the pain was unbareable. She screamed in agony. The other ponies could only watch in horror. The ropes continuously singed Twilight's skin. She couldn't take it anymore. Please, just stop. Make it stop. She didn't care how, she just wanted to stop feeling anything. Suddenly, light exploded inside the barrier, forcing the others to look away.

Applejack squinted back to where Twilight was. The light slowly dimmed. It seemed to take an eternity to go away. "Please be okay," she frantically thought to herself. The light finally vanished, revealing the fallen form of Twilight.

"NO!"

Everypony there quickly ran up to Twilight. Zerkan had let go of the barrier, allowing them to hover over her. Applejack nudged at Twilight.

"Come on Twilight," she shouted, tears in her eyes. "Wake up sugarcube! WAKE UP!" She poked and prodded to no avail while the others sobbed in disbelief. It couldn't be. This wasn't happening. This was all a bad dream. Any minute now, Applejack would wake up in her bed and get ready to harvest her apples. Everything was normal. This wasn't happening.

"No... Twilight!" Rarity sobbed. She ran over to Pinkie Pie for comfort. Only, Pinkie Pie was in no state to comfort anyone. Applejack continued to stare at Twilight. Suddenly, yet another blinding light grew from Twilight's body. When it dimmed, Twilight was gone.

"I knew it!" Zerkan shouted happily. "I knew it was her!" Applejack had no idea what he was talking about. She didn't really care. Twilight was gone. She wasn't coming back. At that point, that was the only thing that mattered.

"I'LL KILL YOU YOU SCUMBAG!"

Applejack quickly turned towards Rainbowdash, who had already sped off in Zerkan's direction.

"Dash, NO!" It was too late. She was already closing in on Zerkan, who merely stared at Dash as she grew closer. The moment she came within a few inches, he casted another spell. Dash was stopped in the air, held by Zerkan's magic. "DASH!" Applejack watched in despair. She had already lost one friend, she couldn't lose another.

"You know," Zerkan said to Dash, "I figured you would be smart enough not to underestimate me after what you saw." Dash struggled with all her strength to break free, but soon there was no need. She was thrown violently to the ground. She hit the ground and grunted in pain. "I think I'll take my leave now. I've made my point. I will be back, so be sure to expect me." With that, Zerkan teleported. Applejack stared where Twilight once was, still not believing what happened. She didn't want to believe it. Twilight didn't seem like the type of person who would ever die, let alone get murdered. She continued to sob. She looked back to the others. Rarity and Pinkie were both crying into each other's shoulders. Rainbowdash, still visibly in pain, sobbed into the ground. The Mayor stood there in disbelief and sadness. However, it was Fluttershy's reaction that caught her attention. After all, she was the one Applejack was most worried about. As with the others, she was crying as well. However, something seemed different about her. She almost looked, angry? No, that wasn't it. Whatever it was, it was worrying Applejack.

"Wh...what now?" Dash said, stuttering between her sobs. Applejack sighed. That was a good question. She turned to the Mayor.

"Get back to Ponyville. Tell everypony what happened, and warn them to stay indoors." The Mayor nodded sadly and took off. She turned her attention back to the others. "I guess let's go to Twilight's... house." Applejack found it oddly hard to say her name. "We better let Spike know what happened." The others nodded and followed Applejack back towards Ponyville with Fluttershy trailing behind. Fluttershy took one last look towards where it had happened and burst out into violent tears. Applejack, hearing the commotion, made a mental note to talk to her alone later. For now, she had to worry about telling Spike what happened. She certainly wasn't looking forward to it.

She silently whispered to herself, "Twilight..." 


End file.
